Letters: Action needed on contamination in iconic waterways

The Ngongotahā stream is among seven contaminated waterways in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Ben Fraser

What an indictment on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the state of the seven rivers including the parts described (News, January 21) in the Ngongotahā and Utuhina streams.

Locals for years have been warning the regional council to lower the level of Lake Rotorua so the rivers actually flow rather than in parts being almost stagnant.

The April 2018 flood report highlighted that the Rotorua Lakes District Council requested five years ago and more lately in October 2017 for the regional council to create a river management plan above the Ngongotaha bridge.

Just visit the mouths of the Waiteti and Ngongotahā rivers to see the silting.

The April event is evidence the management plan is needed. Now they have agreed to act as silting, tree inundation, slips and erosion upstream highlighted by the council and locals contributed to the disaster that was April 2018.

So the Rotorua Lakes District Council along with the regional council are now doing remedial work to prevent a reoccurrence of that event, but I acknowledge nature has her own agenda.

So, what has caused the recent health issues with these iconic waterways? We as locals have been paying into lakes restoration and the Kaituna catchment scheme for decades.

Where has this money gone? No doubt, in my view, into costly wages of talkers rather than action to prevent contamination and increase the waterway flows into Lake Rotorua.

I acknowledge that housing development and land use has contributed to the current outcomes. C'mon, regional council. Action, please.

Charles Sturt
Rotorua

Hand sweeping needed

Periodically a sweeper truck does the rounds of the Ngongotahā streets.

Can someone inform me of the actual function that the contracted company is paid to do?

If it is to drive the truck around the streets alongside the kerb, dodging parked cars with circular brushes under the vehicle continuously rotating, then excellent job.

If, however, the objective is to clear the gutter/channel of any materials that may influence the flow of stormwater into the cesspits leading into the stormwater drains, then I do not believe this is being achieved.

The driver occasionally needs to get down from the vehicle and hand sweep the piles of dirt and vegetation where the mechanical brushes do not reach. The piles accumulate in places such as the Lake dead end of Paraone St.

Unremoved material in that and similar locations seem to have been ignored for years. It is also noted that large weeds are growing in many of the channels in Ngongotahā streets.

Garry Owen
Ngongotahā

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters from readers. Please note the following:
• Letters should not exceed 200 words.
• They should be opinion based on facts or current events.
• If possible, please email.
• No noms-de-plume.
• Letters will be published with names and suburb/city.
• Please include full name, address and contact details for our records only.
• Local letter writers given preference.
• Rejected letters are not normally acknowledged.
• Letters may be edited, abridged, or rejected at the Editor's discretion.
• The Editor's decision on publication is final.
Email editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz